The present invention relates to a refrigeration device having a water supply line, a replaceable water filter installed in the water supply line, and a sensor for interaction with the water filter.
A refrigeration device of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,177 B2. In this known refrigeration device, sensors in the form of two switches are arranged at a mounting location of the water filter, only one of said switches being actuated if a water filter is actually installed in the water supply line; the second of said switches being actuated if the water filter is installed or, if instead of the water filter a plug closes the water supply line, and none of said switches being actuated if neither filter nor plug is installed.
Moreover, means are provided in order to monitor the quantity of water that has flowed through the water filter by measuring the opening time period of a valve in the water supply line, and to generate a warning signal for a user if this quantity of water reaches the specified capacity of the water filter. The signal of one of the two switches is evaluated in order to reset a recorded counted measurand of the quantity of water if the filter has been replaced.
A refrigeration device with built-in water filter and a device for comparing a recorded quantity of water that has flowed through the filter, with a limiting value, and for generating a warning signal when the limiting value is reached, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,236 B1. The limiting value can be selected according to the type of filter used in the refrigeration device.